Roofing your home represents a major upgrade and investment in your property. It increases your home’s value, and it helps elevate your home above other homes in the surrounding communities as home buyers will know that is one less task they need to handle in the coming years. On top of this, the new roof will improve your home’s energy efficiency as it reduces the amount of air loss that escapes through the top of the house.

With all of that said, when looking for a roofing contractor to handle your job, the professionals must be certified. And just because they are offering to do the job for you (or even advertising to do the job) doesn’t mean they have the necessary certification. Is your roofer certified? If not, they need to be, and here’s why.

Licenses and Certifications Are Different

It is important to point out that being licensed and being certified are two different things, although the two are often confused with one another. The state will license your contractor. If they are advertising online, it is almost guaranteed they are licensed. While it is still important to double-check, just to make sure, anyone that is openly advertising to work on your home and markets themselves as contractors will be licensed by the state (now, if they come from South Carolina and you live in North Carolina, this is a little different, and you need to make sure they are licensed within your state).

Certification is different. In order to receive specific certification as a roofing contractor, the contractor in question will need to receive additional training with the specific manufacturer of the products that make the materials being used in the installation. Different products need to be installed in different ways. With certification, it ensures a contractor understands the ins and outs of the material, but they know how to best install the product based on the environment. Asphalt shingles, for example, will be similar, regardless of the manufacturer. 

However, due to the slight differences, the installation might need to be tweaked to ensure the highest quality of installation. Someone who is not certified with the material will not know about these variations that need to be followed.

So, when it comes to looking for a roofing contractor, it is highly recommended to find someone that is a certified roofing contractor and not just a certified general contractor. You are investing a good amount of money in a new roof. You need to know it is being done by someone who knows all the ins and outs of the material they are using.

Continued Education

In order to maintain certification, a roofing contractor doesn’t just go for a weekend course on the material, and then they are good forever. That’s not how it goes. Depending on the particular product in question, it requires continued months and even years of add-on training. Regular training sessions are required to maintain the certification. Any laps and the certification is revoked.

Certified roofing contractors will often offer extended warranties on their roofing installs. This is done for not just the work but the material. A material manufacturer will likely only provide this kind of a warranty if they know the contractor fully understands how to install the product properly. 

They don’t want to risk handing out additional material for free because the contractor failed to install the product correctly. So, when working with a certified roofing contractor, not only will the job be done correctly, but you are more likely to receive a longer warranty on the materials, so, in the off chance something does happen, the warranty will last longer and cover both the work and the material.

Ask About the Certification

When talking to a contractor about the work they will do on your roof, ask about their certification. It is important for the certification to not be just as a general contractor but to be specifically for roofing.

From there, ask about how long they have held their specific certification (they might have multiple certifications for different manufacturers). You should also check in when the certification expires. You don’t want the certification to lapse in the middle of the job potentially. Because while the certification and longer warranty might have been good at the beginning of the job, if it isn’t still good by the time the job is finished, then it might actually void the material warranty on the roof.

It doesn’t take long to check, and these few additional questions you can ask your potential contractor may make all the difference in hiring the right professional.

Contact Charlotte Roofing Specialists For Certified Services

There are several contractors in the greater Charlotte area that are certified contractors. Many of these contractors will offer to perform your roofing job. However, most of these contractors are not specifically certified in roofing; instead, they are certified as general contractors. At Charlotte Roofing Specialists, we focus specifically on all things roofing. So whether it is the installation of new gutters or a new roof, this is what we do.

Other contractors might outsource the service to other companies to perform the roofing. Even if they perform the roofing themselves because it is not something they do every day, they might overlook some details or, at the very least, take longer to accomplish. 

It’s like going to the doctor, your general healthcare provider is good for an overview of your health, but when it comes to specifics, they will send you to a specialist. And when it comes to the health of your home, we are the roofing specialists that will provide you with the quality, certified results you expect. To find out the true difference with our team at Charlotte Roofing Specialists, give our friendly staff a call today!